Roller bearing assembling machine



Nov. 2, 1937. F KETCHAM ET AL 2,097,669 ROLLER BEARING ASSEMBLINGMACHINE Originai Filed March so. 1933 I N VEN TORS. Fran/ r lf'fi(l/d111, George E flu 7127- BY Patented Nov. 2, 1937 r i I v UNITEDSTATES PAENT OFFICE 7 2,097,669 ROLLER BEARING ASSEMBLING MACHINE FrankKetcham, Dearborn, and George E. Dunn, Detroit, Mich., assignors toUniversal Products 00., Inc., a corporation of Delaware Originalapplication March 30, 1933, Serial No. 663,444. Divided and thisapplication September 30, 1935, Serial No. 42,766

14 Claims. (Cl. 198-218) This invention relates to machines forassemopening in conduit 45. The width of the slot in b-ling rollerbearings or the like, and it has parblock 56 corresponds to the lengthof the rollers ticular relation to the mechanism by which rollwhich themachine is to assemble, and it is ers are advanced from a suitablehopper mechadapted to receive the rollers indicated at 52, as

anism to the device by which they are assembled they are delivered fromconduit 45. Slot I66 in in a bearing. This application constitutes adiblock 56 communicates with a groove II 3 in the vision of ourco-pending application for patent, left hand face of bracket 55 asviewed in Fig. 1. Serial No. 663,444, filed March 30, 1933, and of Thisgroove forms three sides of a vertical pasour c'o-pending applicationfor patent, Serial No. sageway for the reception of a column of trans-707,289, filed January 19, 1934; These applicaversely aligned rollers52, t fourth side of D 'tions have matured into Patents 2,031,417 datedsageway H3 e g f m d y t f f a block Feb. 18, 1936,'and 2,068,683 datedJan. 26, 1937, 7 I02 which is secured to bracket 55 by studs I 03.respectively. The top of bracket 55 adjacent this passageway It is anobject of the present invention t is recessed to receive a block 88which lies flush provide an improved mechanism adapted to feed With thetop surface of brac et a is 15 a Series of rollers axially, and thenalign d vided with a V-edge formed by oppositely disfeed themtransversely of their axes in a suitable p s bev l dj n the passageway.M va le condition for assembly in, a roller bearing strucplates 90 endmounted adjacent the t p u ture. face of block I62 form a variablecapacity reser- Ail po tant feature ofthe invention r id voir II for thereception of excess rollers fed to n the provision of a novel pushingmeans dethe assembly devices, ,all as described in the signed to preventdamage to the machine or afor m nt d fie-p pp rollers in the event ofimproper feeding of the As the result of this structure, there is pro-.rollers, and to prevent clogging of roll r i th vided a horizontalconduit 45 communicating machine. with a vertical passageway H3 whichconducts Other objects of the invention will become apt e o s t0 tassembling mechanism indiparent from the following description, thedraw- G ted generally a e Communicating ing relating thereto and theclaims hereinafter ervo r ll which joi s p s a eway a the set forth.apex of block 88 receives the temporary excess For an understanding ofthe invention, referof rollers caused by the intermittent action of encemay be had to the drawing, wherein; the assembly mechanism. These andother fea- Figure 1 constitutes a cross section of a portures of ourmachine are claimed in one or antion of the machine showing the improvedpusher other of our previously mentioned co-pending mechanism inelevation; applications; and it is the purpose of this appli- Fig. 2 isa side elevation of the pusherstruccation to cover our improved pushermechanism ture shown in Fig. 1; by means of which rollers receivedaxially from Fig. 3 is a partial section taken on the line conduit 45are advanced transversely into the 3-3 of Fig. 1. l vertical passagewayH3 above the juncture of For a full description of the complete machinereservoir therewithand the manner in which the improved feeding Thismechani m c mpris a p ir of dependmechanism of this applicationcooperates thereing fingers 58 and 59 which are ri y secured with,reference may be had to our co-pendin to the ends of horizontallydisposed rocker arms application, Serial No. 663,444, aforementioned;iii! and 6 respe t v ly, Which are journaiied 011 In the constructionshown in the drawing, the a cross shaft 62. The shaft 62 is supported byimproved machine is assembled on a frame inan upstanding bracket 63, thelower end of which eluding a horizontally disposed plate I5. 59- isrigidly mounted on the top plate I5, and the cured to the plate is anupstanding bracket 55 upper end of which is bifurcated to form spacedwhich carries on its top face a block 56, secured parallel arms 64 and65, which receive the rocker thereto by screws 57. As shown in Fig. 3,one arms therebetween, and in the upper ends of side edge of block 56 isbored to receive a conwhich the shaft 62 is supported.

duit 45. The interior of this conduit communi- The rocker arms 60 and 6|are adapted to cates with a slot I60 formed in the end of block haveindividual and independent movements 56; and the opposite side of slotI66 contains a from a single or common source of actuation. tapped holeclosed by a suitable plug ISI. This This is accomplished by theprovision of a transhole is. located in alignment with the centralversely disposed yoke member 66, which is piv- I by-step movement Theyoke member provided to prevent used than otherwise would be otedmedially of its ends on a pin 61, the ends of the yoke'arm beingbifurcated so as to be of upstanding U-shape to embrace horizontallydisposed, rigidly mounted pins 68 and 69 mounted in the ends of rockerarms 68 and 55 respectively, which ends are opposite to the ends havingthe fingers 58 and 59.

65 is pivoted to the upper end of a push rod Ed, the lower end of whichis threaded to receive a pair of nuts 'H and axially bored to receivethe upper end of an axially disposed, downwardly projecting pin 12.

The lower end of pin E2 is slidably received in an axially disposed bore13 of a push rod 14. The push rods ill and id are normally held in aspaced relation, as shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, by ahelical compression spring 15, the upper end of which surrounds thelower end of push rod id and bears against the adjusting nut ii, and thelower end oi which similarly surrounds the upper end of push rod l4 andbears against a nut 'l'l which is threaded on the top end thereof.

' Axial movement is imparted to the two part push rod assembly in anupward direction by cam l8 which is fixed to a horizontally journalledcountershaft 1%. The shaft and cam are rotated continuously by anysuitable means, such as that shown in our parent application.

The push rod and rocker arms are normally yieldingly "urged downward byhelical tension springs 88 and 8!, the upper ends of which are attachedto the pins 68 and 65, respectively, and the lower ends of which areanchored to the horizontally disposed brackets 82 and 33, which areintegrally formed on the bifurcated ends 64 and 55, respectively, of thesuppo'rting'bracket 63.

In operation, rollers are fed axially through conduit by any suitablemeans, suchas the hopper mechanism disclosed in our parent application.As they leave conduit 55, they pass into slot H55 in block 55immediately below the two pusher elements 58 and 59; and come to restupon the stack of rollers 52 which normally fills passage H3. As rod iiiis reciprocated by cam 13 through spring 'Hi, the two pusher elementsare forced downwardly upon the stack of rollers, thereby advancing theentire series in passageway H3. The moving'parts of the machine are sotimed that normally the pusher elements are advanced in timed relationwith the feed of rollers from conduit Q5, and this stepof' the rollersin passageway H3 is carried on continuously during normal operation ofthe machine.

The spring 15 in the pusher rod, assembly is injury to the rollers orfeeding mechanism in the event of jams in the roller passageway orconduit. This spring has sufficient'stifiness, however, to advance theroller column during normal operation.

'In the event that one of the rollers should not be projected completelyinto the slot 653 from the discharge conduit is, pressure finger 59would be blocked against downward movement. Under these circumstances,however, due to the equalizer connections 51 and 55 etc., between thepush rod and the rocker arms, pressure element 58 is free to movedownwardly independently of member 59, thereby preventing theapplication of the full compressive force of spring it on the projectingend of the roller by means of pressure element 59. As a result of thisconstruction a stronger spring It can be possible without semblingmachine comprising,

in said guide means, said injury to either the partially ejected rolleror the conduit 45.

It will be noted that the roller contacting surface on element 59 issubstantially greater than that on member 58, with the result that theroller must be almost free of the conduit 45 before it is engaged bypressure element 58. This is of advantage since, when the pressuremember 59 engages a partially ejected roller, member 58 will movedownwardly and block the complete discharge of that roller from theconduit. This insures that on the next and subsequent operations of thepressure members the rollers will be completely discharged from theconduit, and it prevents the repeated discharge of a roller under axialpressure in the conduit %5, after thepressure element has started toapply pressure to the column in passageway H3.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention has been hereinshown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of theconstruction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from thespirit of this invention as defined by the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a roller bearing assembling machine, means for supplying rollers,a duct communicating with said means for receiving rollers dischargedtherefrom, the duct having a longitudinally extending slot therethrough,a pair of pusher fingers extending into the slot for ejecting rollersfrom'the duct, independent arms for actuating the pusher fingers, a linkpivotally connecting the arms, and an actuating rod connecting the linkintermediate the point of connection of the arms.

2. In a roller bearing assembling machine, means for supplying rollersfaduct communicating with said means for receiving rollers 'dischargedtherefrom, the duct having a longitudinally extending slottherethrough', a pair of pusher fingers extending into the slot forejecting rollers from the duct, independent arms for actuating thepusher fingers, a link pivotally connecting the arms, a two pieceactuatingrod connected to the link intermediate the point of connectionof the arms, and yielding means interposed between the two parts of therod.

3. A feed mechanism for a roller bearing asmeans for guiding a pluralityof transversely aligned rollers, a pair of pusher members extending intosaid guiding means and adapted to engage a roller positioned therein,and means for actuating said pusher members to efiect advance of saidrollers in said guide means, said means being so constructed andarranged as to permit one of said members to move independently of theother. i

4. A feed mechanism for a roller hearing assembling machine comprising,means for guiding a plurality of transversely aligned rollers, a pair ofpusher members extending into said guiding means and adapted to engage aroller positioned therein, and means for resiliently actuating saidpusher members to effect advance of said rollers means being soconstructed and arranged as to permit one of said members to moveindependently of the other.

5. A feed mechanism for a push rod, and an equalizer connection betweenroller bearing assembling machine comprising, means for guiding saidpusher members and said push rod whereby upon reciprocation of said rodone of said members may advance independently of the other.

6. A feed mechanism for a roller bearing assembling machine comprising,means for guiding pair of pusher members extending into said guid ingmeans and adapted to engage a roller positioned therein, a pair ofrocker arms having one end of each operatively connected to said pushermembers respectively, a push rod having a resiliently compressiblesection, means to reciprocate said rod, and a link engageable at itsends with the free ends of said rocker arms and pivotally securedintermediate its ends to said push rod.

8. A feed mechanism for a roller bearing assembling machine including apassageway adapted to guide rollers in transverse alignment, and apusher mechanism comprising a pair of pusher elements extending intosaid passageway and engageable with the roller bearing positionedtherein, said elements having combined roller contacting facessubstantially co-extensive with the Width of said passageway, and meansfor advancing said elements, said means being so con structed andarranged as to permit one of said elements to advance independently ofthe other.

9. A feed mechanism for a roller bearing assembling machine includingmeans for receiving and guiding a plurality of rollers in transversealignment, means for feeding rollers axially to said guide means, meansto move rollers transversely along said guide means comprising a pair ofpusher elements adapted to engage the rollers as they are received bysaid guide means from said feeding means, and means for advancing saidelements, said means being so constructed and arranged as to permit oneof said elements to move independently of the other.

10. A feed mechanism for a roller bearing assembling machine comprising,means to supp y a plurality of rollers in end to end relation, guidemeans positioned transversely with respect to said means and adapted toreceive rollers therefrom and guide them in transverse alignment, apusher mechanism positioned adjacent the receiving end of said guidemeans and adaptedto advance said rollers along said guide means, saidpusher mechanism comprising a pair of roller engaging devices, and meansfor advancing said devices, said means being so constructed and arrangedas to permit the advance of one of said devices independently of theother.

11. A feed mechanism for a roller bearing assembling machine including,a passageway adapted to receive and guide rollers in transversealignment, means adjacent one end of said passageing said rollers insaid Way for feeding rollers axially thereof into said passageway, and apusher mechanism for advancpassageway as they are received from saidfeeding means, said pusher mechanism comprising a pair of pusherelements adapted to engage a roller positioned in said passageway, apush rod including a resiliently compressible section, means forreciprocating said push rod, and means connecting said push rod withsaid pusher elements including an equalizer mechanism whereby one ofsaid elements may advance independently of the other.

12. A feed mechanism for a roller bearing assembling machine including,a passageway adaptpassageway, said rollers in said passageway bearingassembling machine including, a passageway adapted to receive and guiderollers in transverse alignment, means adjacent sageway for feedingrollers axially thereof into said passageway, and a pusher mechanism foradvancing said rollers in said passageway as they one end of said pas-

